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ISTANBUL, TURKEY, May 26, 2011 (C-FAM) – For weeks on end, the two groups sat opposite each other in small conference rooms, negotiating a program of action for the poorest countries that often seemed to revolve around one issue: money.

On one side sat the developed countries including those in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.  On the other side were the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a designation used by the United Nations that encompasses 48 countries with the lowest socioeconomic development indicators in the world.

These negotiations culminated in a 10-year program of action for LDCs, which was adopted in Turkey by governments earlier this month.  Although some praised the ambitious goal of halving the number of countries classified as LDCs in the next decade, many observers across the political spectrum were very disappointed with the final outcome.

Amidst the often contentious debates between the most developed and least developed countries, the Holy See offered a third voice to the proceedings, one that reflected a solidarity with the poor while at the same time disavowing any specific political position or economic theory.  It is precisely this neutrality on the part of the Holy See that proved to be at times both encouraging and perplexing to delegations on both sides of the negotiations. 

While the Holy See supported calls from the LDCs for more financial resources from developed countries, it also cautioned against reducing development to a merely economic consideration, at the expense of spiritual development.  The Holy See complimented the increased attention and resources that developed countries have devoted to the LDCs, but was also very critical of the increased focus on a narrow political development agenda that deemphasized essentials like education, basic healthcare, and food security.

In his statement to the LDC conference in Turkey, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi focused on the theme of “integral human development” as set forth in the landmark 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, written by Pope Benedict XVI.  Archbishop Tomasi stressed that “the development of individuals and peoples depends partly on the resolution of problems of a spiritual nature. Development must include not just material growth but also spiritual growth.”

Considering that the final LDC document only mentions “family” in the context of family planning, Tomasi called for a structure that could allow for “work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children, … work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level…”

Throughout the negotiations, the Holy See fought the developed countries in their efforts to link population issues to problems with education, health, and development.  Many of the delegates from the developed countries were clearly dismayed with the insistence of the Holy See to oppose controversial terms such as “sexual and reproductive health”, with one delegate even repeatedly questioning the Holy See’s status to negotiate, a stance that was not supported by any other country.

In the end, the Holy See was the only nation in Turkey that had conditionally approved the document, stating that terms like “family planning” and “sexual and reproductive health” must be interpreted in line with the Holy See’s previously stated positions on such issues.

Reprinted with permission from C-Fam.org